[1] Novik originally published a short story called "Spinning Silver" in The Starlit Wood anthology in 2016 and later expanded it into a novel.

Miryem Mandelstam, a young Jewish girl, takes over her father's moneylending business to save her family from poverty.

Her boast is overheard by the Staryk, a race of fae creatures who emerge from their own world every winter to raid human settlements, and Miryem receives three deliveries of magical silver.

The jewellery is bought by the duke of the city of Vysnia for his daughter, Irina; he then persuades Mirnatius, the tsar of Lithvas, to marry her.

Mirnatius has a contract allowing his body to be inhabited by Chernobog, a demon who drinks souls and can only emerge at night due to his hatred of sunlight.

Although she hates her husband, who refuses even to tell her his name due to the power over him it would give her, Miryem comes to know and care for some of the Staryk; she also sees that their kingdom is suffering mysterious damages.

Because Miryem cannot cross to the human world alone, she bargains with the king: he will take her to attend her cousin’s wedding in Vysnia if she can transform three of his enormous vaults of silver within three days.

Mirnatius tells Irina that he did not choose the contract with Chernobog, but was promised to the demon by his own mother in exchange for her marrying his father, the previous tsar.

She goes to her husband and learns that, while the Staryk have always raided the human world, they began trying to exterminate Lithvas with brutal winters only after Mirnatius became tsar.

In the mortal lands, the demon attempts to turn on Irina, but finds himself powerless when she reminds him of their bargain not to harm her or anyone of hers.